The yellow constant
The only positive constant in this very difficult start to 2026 for Ducati is represented by Fabio Di Giannantonio. The VR46 team rider was also the best among the riders riding a Desmosedici at Le Mans: Diggia beat Pedro Acosta in a sprint for fourth place and confirmed the trend of results that see him always in the top-4 on Sundays in the last four GPs. However, interviewed after the race, the Roman rider confirmed that the Aprilias – authors of a historic hat-trick in this French GP – remain unbeatable.
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“We are happy because we did our best – said Di Giannantonio opening his interview with the colleagues of Sky Sport MotoGP – the team did a great job because since yesterday we made a change and we really had little time to confirm it, but they hit the mark to improve the bike. Unfortunately, it is not enough. The Aprilias are really scary at the moment, they have an incredible corner entry. We, on the other hand, are always there ‘thinking’, on the limit, we have this front that never wants to do what we want it to do. They, on the other hand, make the difference and manage to be more precise. Seen from behind they seem to be more comfortable and tighter and that is what we lack. We have a bit of a short blanket: if we improve the front we lose the rear, if we improve the rear we lose the front. Surely we have to work, but I am happy to have done my best today, which is a wooden medal“.
Ducati leader? Not me
Di Giannantonio then replied somewhat sharply to those who asked him if he is actually the reference rider for Ducati at the moment, the leader given the problems, crashes and injuries that are plaguing Bagnaia and Marc Marquez: “No, let’s say I am not remotely the leader of the Ducatis – replied the Roman, soon to move to KTM in 2027 – the leaders of the Ducatis are the reds, in this case Marc and Pecco. We are yellow, so we are just a factory support team. We go fast, we are doing a good job, but the leaders of all this are them. We are doing a good job, I am motivated by the fact that we are somehow trying to annoy Aprilia and that we are perhaps the ones succeeding best, but we really lack a lot, we really have to work”.
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